ATLANTA | The top-seeded, top-ranked (and just plain tops, we suppose) Florida Gators will take the floor against Missouri on Friday in UF's first SEC Tournament game at the Georgia Dome.

The Gators (29-2) have won five first-round games in a row, going one-and-done for the last time in 2008 against Alabama, in the Georgia Dome. UF beat Missouri 68-58 during the regular season.

One question is the fatigue factor for the Tigers. They beat Texas A&M 91-83 in double overtime on Thursday and this will be their fifth game in 14 days and their third in six days. Florida hasn't played since beating Kentucky last Saturday, 84-65, to finish the SEC regular season 18-0.

The Florida senior class of Patric Young, Casey Prather, Scottie Wilbekin and Will Yeugete have won three SEC regular-season titles but never the tournament. UF has lost two championship games and one semifinal in the last three seasons.

Only Young and Wilbekin played significant time in all three of those SEC tournaments. Young has played in eight tournament games, averaging 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds, shooting .512. Wilbekin has played in eight games, averaging 6.3 points and 2.7 assists.

Some early notes about the tournament ...

South Carolina has been the surprise team with victories over Auburn and Arkansas. And coach Frank Martin seems to be behaving himself. He also doesn't do beards very well.

The attendance has been a total of 26,658 for the first three sessions, with 10,218 coming out on Thursday night to watch LSU-Alabama and Mississippi-Mississippi State on Thursday night.

One wonders how much Arkansas has damaged its NCAA tournament possibilities by losing their last two games, a blowout against Alabama to close the regular season and Thursday's elimination from the SEC tournament by South Carolina. Eight days ago, the Razorbacks blew out Mississippi 110-80 to win their sixth game in a row and improve to 21-9. The Hogs had won those six games by an average margin of 11.5 points. But they were routed by Alabama last Saturday and then were knocked out of the tournament by a South Carolina team that had lost seven of its last 10 games.

And how 'bout those 'Dawgs? Georgia plays in the final game of the night session on Friday against Mississippi, 25 minutes after the conclusion of the LSU-Kentucky game. Since losing three SEC games in a row earlier in the season, Georgia has won 8-of-10, including twice over LSU. The Bulldogs beat Ole Miss 61-60 in Athens in their only regular-season meeting.